Creativity

Although creativity conjures visions of design and art, it is defined as the ability to "bring into existence, to invest with a new form, to produce through imaginative skill, to make or bring into existence something new". Which is a rather broader remit than art and design.

The Internet itself was the result of pure creativity - it is a development that grew from the venerable Unix operating system when Sir Tim Berners Lee spotted the creative potential of hyperlinks - which are simply file references that extended outside local computer resources and networks, to encompass the path between any systems (hosts and servers) anywhere on the public Internet that were discoverable by looking up a Domain Name Server (DNS).

But such technicalities as DNS and paths were getting in the way of the creative types - who don't want to be drawn into the complexities of what goes on under the hood of Unix development. So to address this, there has been a rash of "rapid development environments" designed to shield arty types from the harsher details of the increasingly complex programming codes. These manifest as content management systems (CMS) which attempt to reduce complex web creation to a series of drag and drop operations with pre-defined example templates; but however tech-free this approach can seem on the surface, the code generated by such systems is almost indecipherable to all but the most extreme gurus. So everything is fine as long as it is working - but if things go wrong and the CMS "shield" gets confused, you are on your own.

Moreover, there has been a "quiet" revolution on the web in the past year as HTML5 has taken root as the older HTML5-incompatible browsers (like IE6) are finally pensioned off. This enables developers to create sites using precision graphics with dynamic interaction - and avoid the compromises and complications of the once ubiquitous medium of Flash. HTML5 has a meant a rethink with many of the older "quick solution" site managers such as Wordpress and Joomla as they try and drag their baggage along, but HTML5 is the future.

Touchcast is here!

One of the most exciting developments we have seen in many years is a new product called "TouchCast" - and it is no wild axagerration to say that ...

“TouchCast does for video production what DTP did for photo setting and paste up”

USP is just getting up to speed with it all here – and we are involved from the ground floor. The iPad ap is being joined by a suite of other tools and platforms in due course, but we want USP’s customers to get first look at this and consider how they might use it in their businesses.

Ecommerce, e-commerce, or electronic commerce is the conduct of a financial transaction by electronic means. With the huge success of commerce on the Internet, ecommerce usually refers to shopping at online stores on the World Wide Web, also known as ecommerce Web sites. Ecommerce can be business to business (B to B) or business to consumer (B to C).

Blogs - A frequent, chronological publication of personal/promotional thoughts and Web links.Articles - A literary composition, forming an independent portion of a magazine, newspaper, or cyclopedia.Social Media Networking - sites based on user participation, user interaction and user-generated content. Examples include social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, or My Space, social bookmarking sites like Del.icio.us, social news sites like Digg or Simply. A lot of distracting hype surrounds social media - the commercial value of the genre is still largely unproven and it is all too easy to be lead astray by "buzzspeak" and marketing waflle..

Flash traditional and 3D animation or HTML5 based web designs consisting of:Animations - from motion tweening to character or mechanical animations, for banners, adverts, cartoons, and much more.Interactive sites - Allowing for the user/viewer to be able to interact with a sites content and navagation experience, allowing for mouse movements or buttons to interact with the web sites content, game, adverts or even web site theme and style.3D - Design and animation of 3d objects, enviorments and characters for advertising, product designs and interactive web sites. Design and Created using 3d MAX/ Adobe After effects / Adobe Premiere / Sony Vegas Pro and many more.Designed using ever Adobe Flash, HTML5 or JS to allow for animated or interaction between site and user/viewers.

Our experienced programming team uses the latest (tried and tested) systems and technology combined with the latest forms of programming codes, to create the most advanced online sites and experiences.

Creativity is a many edged sword in the world of commercial media and marketing.

The most visually challenging and stunning presentations all too frequently mask the brand and the message: "that was a great site - but what was it selling ? How was it supposed to part me from any cash?"

In the immortal words of Lord Sugar: "Show them the product, tell them the price - and tell them where to buy it. And then do it all over again...."